Add an old English twist to winter cocktails
Sloe gin is an old English drink that’s especially wellsuited to wintertime. Drink it over ice, try it in a cocktail or forage for sloe berries and make a home batch.
Family recipes have been passed down for generations, but for novices, experimenting is easy.
The berries
Sloe gin’s origins go back to the hedgerows of blackthorn bushes that served as fences all across England when common farmland was divvied up in the 17th century. Their plumlike, inky blue-purple sloe berries became synonymous with the English countryside.
After realizing that the raw berries were tart and astringent, people tried to make wine from them. But the astringency remained, and then “someone had the bright idea of resting it on a spirit,” said Joe Horning, liquid quality and innovations manager at the London-based Sipsmith Gin.
By steeping sloe berries in alcohol, the low-quality gin of the time was transformed into a more palatable tipple. As distilling methods improved, a more refined drink was created. And bartenders further elevated its profile with the invention of the Sloe Gin Fizz in the early 20th century and pre-prohibition cocktails like the Charlie Chaplin.
Green and seasonal
There has been a recent resurgence in the popularity of sloe gin, according to Siobhan Robinson, owner of the East London craft distillery Mother’s Ruin.
“As we got more interested in the environment and foraging and what we’re doing to the world, I think there’s been a renaissance of people making their own sloe gin, and a real interest in sloe gin,” Robinson said.
Sloe gin also has a winter association because the berries are at their ripest in the autumn, and its “earthy warm flavor” suits the time of year, she added.
She suggests using it in hot cocktails, like a hot sloe gin punch, a hot toddy with whiskey or even adding a slug to hot chocolate.
Technically, sloe gin isn’t a gin at all, Robinson said. With the addition of sugar and sloes, it becomes a liqueur, and has a far lower alcohol content than a standard gin, around the same strength as a strong wine.
While sloe gin is traditionally drunk over ice as a digestif, it is also versatile in modern cocktails.
Horning suggests substituting Chambord for a twist on a kir royale. He also recommends a sloe Negroni, reducing the measures to allow for a shot of sloe gin in addition to London dry gin, Campari and sweet vermouth. 1 oz. (30ml) sloe gin
1 oz. (30ml) bourbon
1½ oz. (50ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
Dash of Angostura Bitters Drop of foaming bitters
(we use Ms Better’s Bitters Miraculous Foamer)
1. Add ice and all ingredients to a shaker, shake for 30 seconds and strain into a glass so the ice stays in the shaker. 1½ oz. (50ml) sloe Gin ¾ oz. (25ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice ¼ oz. (12.5ml) sugar syrup Sparkling water
Foraging and DIY
When you forage for sloes, Horning said, feel the berries for ripeness, and look for a yeast powder on the berry’s core, “a telltale sign that the fruit’s ripe.” As for quantity, “the more the merrier.”
Mother’s Ruin sloe gin sour.
ice and all ingredients except the sparkling water to a shaker, shake for 30 seconds, and strain into a glass filled with ice. Top up with sparking water and stir gently.
Tradition dictates that each berry is pricked to let the juices flow into the base spirit, but Horning recommends freezing the berries instead. That causes small ruptures in the skin, allowing the juices to come through, and is far less time-consuming.
The sloes should rest in a Mason jar of gin, filled just below the liquid level. Resting periods can vary from months to a year. There are no hard-and-fast rules; Horning recommends a few months, while Robinson
says the longer the better. Either sugar syrup or honey should be added at the end, and less is more.
“Sweeten cautiously, because you can always add more sugar if need be, but you can’t take away,” Horning said.